Truely astounding ! What were the actual dates ? Where was the snow line at the start and on the descent ? How cold was it ? How much daylight ? Were they climbing everyday with headlamps ? How many batteries & how much fuel ? Where did they find a place to erect a tent & sleep side by side between Southfork Pass and Mt.Sill ? How long did it take to get back ,with a stop to pick up their snowshoes from Southfork Pass,to their car from Agassiz ?

Great trip. I remember when Fisher and a client did the FA of it back in the days, in summer, in 7 days with caches along the way. The late Michael Reardon soloed it in 24-28 hours ( I don't remember the exact time) in the summer, few years back.

The activity in the High Sierra continues to progress in big steps and the Bishop area people are a large part of it.

I think their training program and the gear they carried should be a must reading for anyone contemplating fast and long winter outings in the Sierra. Awesome outing.

BTW A while ago, someone on SP posted series of questions about the hight cost of Himalayan expeditions. No need to go very far, there is still a lot of great stuff to do close to home...

asmrz wrote:...BTW A while ago, someone on SP posted series of questions about the hight cost of Himalayan expeditions. No need to go very far, there is still a lot of great stuff to do close to home...

Agreed. There are countless glorious climbs/adventures to be had here at home. I just wish I had more time. One unfortunate pattern I see (myself included) are the most popular routes being done over and over. There are tons of rarely/barely done climbs waiting to be greased up with skin cells and chalk. Most of us should be more careful about looking outside the most common routes.

I would like to add that for beginners it is a great way to cut your teeth - on well traveled routes with decent topos. When you lead in 5.7-5.9 range and are getting comfortable with placing protection it is a critical to learn how to follow topos, and not take falls out there. 5.7-9s are usually full of ledges, and falls tend to not be as clean as on harder climbs. Getting on climbs with scarce information about them is a bit risky since you usually are likely to get off route on those, and might have to climb terrain that is over your (not you in particular Burchey, just talking about general public) head if 5.8 is your limit. I thought it worked well for me to do a bunch of classics before getting on less traveled climbs. Getting comfortable with doing backcountry trad climbs takes time.

BTW A while ago, someone on SP posted series of questions about the hight cost of Himalayan expeditions. No need to go very far, there is still a lot of great stuff to do close to home...

Very true. Can't say I get tired of Sierra (NOT AT ALL), but it's vital to try what's out in other ranges since climbing there is usually way different than on home turf. Weather, presence of real objective danger, altitude, mixed rock/ice make it a whole different ball game from what we are used to here (pure trad rock routes, ridge traverses, water ice during winter, alpine ice gullies). Doing things like summer routes in winter is probably the best way to prepare for those major ranges...

Grand adventure ! Congratulations Jed & Ian .When John Fischer and I traversed the Palisades in 1979,it was his fifth attempt in ten years and our second together.He was most familiar with the sections between Mt.Sill and Agassiz .We had been stormed off Norman Clyde in June ,1978 .We had to tie-in seperately to sleep on Bivouac Peak & in the middle of the Palisade Crest .We had long days of climbing & daylight & ran out of food in the morning until we reached our cache on the summit of Mt.Sill after 8pm & our water bottles froze that night.John had a down jacket & elephants foot for sleeping & I had a light down bag and a Lowe backpack with a Gore-tex extension to sleep in .We had a single rope,ran out of rap slings by North Palisade but saw a party rapping from Starlight and picked up their slings. We had to rap down some days to find snow & ice for water .It took us a long time to get to PSOM camp at Fifth Lake the last day & we certainly were not in shape to make it back to Glacier Lodge until the next day.

Palisades79 wrote:Truely astounding ! What were the actual dates ? Where was the snow line at the start and on the descent ? How cold was it ? How much daylight ? Were they climbing everyday with headlamps ? How many batteries & how much fuel ? Where did they find a place to erect a tent & sleep side by side between Southfork Pass and Mt.Sill ? How long did it take to get back ,with a stop to pick up their snowshoes from Southfork Pass,to their car from Agassiz ?

We hit snow before the S. Fk creek crossing, and left snow around Second Falls returning down the N. Fk.

It was cold. I've been meaning to look at sensors to get a handle on that. I've been slammed with other missions (In Canada now, preparing for a Guide's Exam. Ian's in Vegas, rocking out), and haven't gone through the motions. Night 1 was certainly ca. 0f. Subsequent nights were slightly warmer. Days never got warmer than 20s, F.

We climbed in the dark afternoon 3, afternoon 4, and morning 5. We hiked in the dark from just below Sam Mack Meadow.

took 12 lithium aaa batteries, used 9.

Took, as Adam indicates, 20 oz pressurized fuel, used about 18oz.

Pitched the tent just south of Middle Palisade summit, just north of Mt. Williams, on Scimitar Pass, and in the deepest notch on the NW ridge of T-Bolt. Snow makes site selection easier: tent platforms are more plentiful, and drinking water is right outside the door.

We summited Agassiz about 3:30pm on day 5, and reached the car at 10 or so. The snowshoes are still at S. Fork Pass... So, yes, technically we are not done yet.

Well, it was easier than I thought. Here's temp data for the Tyndall Plateau for our dates. (11,400 feet. If we figure a lapse rate of 4deg F per 1000 feet in elevation, we can drop the whole curve 8-12 degrees, depending on where we were at.)Now, if it was only this easy to find weather data in Canada...

Palisades79 wrote:Grand adventure ! Congratulations Jed & Ian .When John Fischer and I traversed the Palisades in 1979,it was his fifth attempt in ten years and our second together.He was most familiar with the sections between Mt.Sill and Agassiz .We had been stormed off Norman Clyde in June ,1978 .We had to tie-in seperately to sleep on Bivouac Peak & in the middle of the Palisade Crest .We had long days of climbing & daylight & ran out of food in the morning until we reached our cache on the summit of Mt.Sill after 8pm & our water bottles froze that night.John had a down jacket & elephants foot for sleeping & I had a light down bag and a Lowe backpack with a Gore-tex extension to sleep in .We had a single rope,ran out of rap slings by North Palisade but saw a party rapping from Starlight and picked up their slings. We had to rap down some days to find snow & ice for water .It took us a long time to get to PSOM camp at Fifth Lake the last day & we certainly were not in shape to make it back to Glacier Lodge until the next day.

Jerry Adams ,Sacramento.

Also, Jerry, I must admit that a quote of yours became a bit of a mantra. A couple times around the web, including on an Evolution Traverse report my girlfriend posted to Supertopo, you have responded to the effect of "great, now you are ready for the Palisades".

I have one photo of an entry from you and John in a Palisade Crest register. Shoot me an email and I'll send it your way if you want. jediahmporter at gmail It may be on the hard drive in the States, but I'll be back there before the end of the month.